You and Me
by tardischarlotte
Summary: After listening to a song on repeat for an hour, Clara breaks down in fear of her love being unrequited. Whoufflé Multi-Chapter. Complete.
1. Chapter 1

Lit by fairy lights scattered around the room, Clara lay on her bed with her eyes closed. She was staying in her bedroom in the TARDIS rather than at the Maitland's house. She always preferred to spend evenings with the Doctor, but sometimes she just had to go home. Tonight though, she had enjoyed the evening with him and him alone.

Although she had a little help from the Doctor, Clara had designed her bedroom pretty much all by herself. She had a single bed with a patch work quilt in the far corner, with fairy lights hung above to light the room dimly. The patchwork quilt was a present from the Doctor on her last birthday. He had visited her mother, her grandmother, her great-grandmother, and so on, and asked them each to sew a patch. When he presented the quilt to her, Clara had broken down in tears. He was so considerate and her love for him was so strong, though she felt the feeling was not mutual.

Also in her room were souvenirs from their adventures they had had together. Each little thing was a treasure. Some of the things she had collected herself, but most of them were given to her by the Doctor. These keepsakes were spaced along her shelves in chronological order, they way the Doctor had taught her to order them.

With her headphones firmly plugged in her ears, tears rolled silently down Clara's cheeks. She had had one song on repeat for an hour now, but there was no way she was going to turn it off. The Doctor was asleep in his room and he had been for about half an hour. Clara had asked to go to bed an hour ago, saying she had a headache, but really it was just because she couldn't stand the fact that he didn't notice the connection between them. She was so madly in love with him, but he was oblivious to it all.

Cheeks wet from all the tears, Clara listened to You and Me by Lifehouse for the twentieth time in an hour.

_What day is it? And in what month?_  
_This clock never seemed so alive_  
_I can't keep up and I can't back down_  
_I've been losing so much time_

Squeezing her eyes tightly shut, she mouthed the words thinking about one person and one person only. She had been crying silently for an hour, but after the song finished again, she gave a quiet whimper. She hoped the Doctor wouldn't hear her because she didn't want to make him feel guilty for an emotion he obviously just doesn't feel.

The song started again and she just couldn't hold her silence in any longer. Clara began to sob into her pillow, hugging it close to her, as if it was the one who she was crying over.

_Cause it's you and me and all of the people_  
_With nothing to do, nothing to lose_  
_And it's you and me and all of the people_  
_And I don't know why I can't keep my eyes off of you_


	2. Chapter 2

The door to her room slowly opened and the Doctor's head slowly peered around the door. Clara was still sobbing into the pillow and didn't notice his presence. Delicately stepping over the clothes strewn over the floor, the Doctor walked over to the single bed in which Clara was laying.

As he sat on her bed, Clara felt the weight near her feet, and, without opening her eyes, sat up and slid her arms around the Doctor. The Doctor accepted her plea for comfort and wrapped his arms around her, with her then clinging on tighter.

Wiping a tear from his eye, the Doctor kissed the top of Clara's head. He didn't even know why she was crying, but hearing her sob like that made him get a rather large lump in his throat.

"I'm sorry Clara," he whispered, "I'm so so sorry."

Tears choking her words, Clara was unable to reply. The tears just kept running down her flushed cheeks as she pulled the now silent headphones from her ears. Finally able to speak, Clara's voice was strangled by sadness.

"What for?" she cried.

"I don't know," said the Doctor. "But I am still sorry." He lifted her face so her eyes were in contact with his. They were red and sore, and it was obvious to him that she had been crying for at least an hour. Although no longer sobbing her heart out, tears were still running down Clara's cheeks. "What's wrong, Impossible Girl?" he whispered.

"You wouldn't understand," she replied, once again nestling her face into his chest.

"Try me."

She pulled away from him and blinked her tear-filled eyes. The unstoppable tears just kept streaming down her delicate face as she looked to the floor. She found it hard to believe there were any tears left. Using his thumb to wipe away one of many tears, the Doctor kissed the top of her head again.

"It's just…" Clara stopped. Her lip quivered as she looked into the Doctor's eyes again. She tried to keep her tears under control, but before she could finish the sentence she had started, she began sobbing again. The rather large lump returned in the Doctor's throat as he tried to comfort her. Wrapping their arms around each other, they held each other tightly. For the moment, Clara's sentence remained unfinished, until she could find the right words to escape her mouth.


	3. Chapter 3

Clara's head was now resting on the Doctor's lap. At first he felt a bit uncomfortable with her head so close, but he embraced it when he realised that Clara had stopped crying. Her eyes were still moist from the tears, only a few drops escaped her eyes now. The Doctor was stroking her hair, Clara clinging on to the thought that he might have finally realised his feelings.

"Are you ready to tell me yet?" he asked. He then rested his hand on her shoulder and awaited a response.

"Well," she paused, lip quivering again, and looked up into the Doctor's eyes. She couldn't stop herself from thinking about the chorus of You and Me.

_Cause it's you and me and all of the people_  
_With nothing to do, nothing to lose_  
_And it's you and me and all of the people_  
_And I don't know why I can't keep my eyes off of you_

Clara bit her lip to hold back the tears. She tried to look away from the Doctor so he didn't see her crying again, but the lyrics in the chorus described her feelings right now perfectly. She couldn't keep her eyes off of him.

A tear spilled over her waterline and tumbled down her cheek, landing on the Doctor's lap.

"Oh Clara, my Clara," he bent down and kissed her cheek. "Tell me, what's wrong?"

"It's… it's you…" The overwhelming feeling of regret filled Clara's body, causing her to start sobbing once again. Calming her with gentle strokes, the Doctor hushed her tears. "Doctor, I…" Clara choked, a waterfall streaming down her face, "I…"

"Shh, stop crying," the Doctor whispered, "Clara, stop crying."

Clara composed herself to a state in which only a few teas were streaming and an occasional sniff would break the silence.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong?" the Doctor asked.

"I don't know the right words."

"Just try to tell me, Clara."

"But it's impossible," she cried. "It's impossible to say the right words to tell you what's wrong…"

"But your my impossible girl. Anything's possible with you."

That's what she was counting on. Anything being possible. Anything between them being possible. Mustering the courage to tell him her feelings, Clara replayed what she was going to say over and over in her head. The Doctor respected the silence as he sat back and waited for her to say what she felt, in her own time.

Just before she was going to speak, Clara scrapped the script in her head. She couldn't just blurt out that she loved him. It would be too much. Frustration spread across her face as the Doctor sat up. Suddenly, Clara thought of how she could tell him what was bothering her.

She sat up and reached over to where her headphones had been thrown down. She grabbed each one and placed them gently in the Doctor's ears. She then reached for her phone, where her music was stored, and pressed play. It was already on the song that she had previously been listening to for an hour.

As the song progressed, the Doctor's eyes began to well up. Swallowing hard, the Doctor listened to the lyrics with such care, each word increasing the size of the lump in his throat. Once the song had ended, Clara stopped the music from restarting and looked at him through misty eyes. The Doctor looked back at her, also through misty eyes.

"Clara," he said, "Is this what you feel?"

Clara couldn't reply. Her voice was silenced by sadness gripping her throat. Words inactive, Clara nodded her head. The Doctor pulled her close to him, so she could feel his hearts beating. Once again, the tears rolled down her face and onto his shoulder.


	4. Chapter 4

"Clara, I didn't know…"

"I know…" she mumbled through her tears.

Clara lifted her face from his shoulder. Her head was heavy and pulling away felt like pulling two magnets apart. The Doctor cupped her face with his large hands, wiping each tear away with individual strokes of his thumbs. As Clara yawned, a few extra tears were squeezed out of her eyes, first getting caught on her lower eyelashes, then gently crawling down her cheeks to her chin, where they fell and hit her lap.

"You're tired. You should go to sleep," the Doctor suggested.

"I can't sleep, though."

"Come with me."

The Doctor stood up from her bed, leaving an indent from where he had been sitting. He stretched out his hand towards Clara. Although confused, Clara took his hand in hers and stood up, so she was next to him. As they began walking, the Doctor loosened his grip on her hand and let it fall back to its place by Clara's side. Disappointment flooded through her but was quickly diminished when the Doctor reached around her back and held on to her opposite arm. He pulled her close and gave her a squeeze.

"Where are we going?" said Clara, as she gave another yawn.

"My bedroom!"

Clara was instantly shocked. What was he suggesting?

"Why?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

The Doctor confused. What did she mean, why? He suddenly realised what the point she was getting at was.

"No, no, no!" he said surprised, "No, I meant, well, not _that_, I mean, er, definitely not _that_, well, I'm not ruling it out, I mean, it is a possibility, no, no, what am I saying, er…" A red blush suffused his cheeks. Embarrassed, he looked away to avoid Clara's eye line.

They continued walking, avoiding eye contact completely. The Doctor had loosen his grip around Clara's shoulders and his arm was now firmly by his side. Although a little disappointed that his arm was now longer around her, she understood that he was embarrassed, so continued walking next to him with a little distance between them.

After walking down the corridor with only their footsteps breaking the silence, they reached the Doctor's bedroom. Before they entered, the Doctor broke the silence with his own voice.

"The reason why I wanted you to come to my bedroom was because I thought you'd sleep better with company. Just sleeping in the same bed as someone makes me feel less lonely, so I thought it might make you feel better. I didn't mean for you to think that I was suggesting_ that_. If it's too weird, then I can get your mattress and we can just sleep in the same room, not in the same bed."

"I don't mind," Clara assured him.


	5. Chapter 5

They both stepped into the Doctor's bedroom, him still feeling awkward and embarrassed. He had a double bed in his room, which made Clara wonder who else had slept in the same bed as him.

"Why do you have a double bed?"

"What do you mean?" the Doctor replied.

"Well, you said that I only need a single bed in my room because there is only one of me. There is only one of you too, so why do you need a double bed?"

"Well, I don't know, do I?"

Clara realised she had maybe mentioned a touchy subject, so decided to drop the conversation. The Doctor walked over to his bed and gestured towards Clara.

"You coming over then or what?"

Clara had been standing relatively near the door. She snapped out of a deep thought and walked over to the bed. The Doctor lay on the bed, on top of the duvet, and wiggled right over to the far side of the bed in an attempt to give her as much space as possible. Clara climbed into the bed, under the duvet, and wiggled slightly towards the middle in an attempt to be close to him.

The Doctor turned out the light and close his eyes. But Clara's remained open. The sadness that had plagued her earlier that night was returning. She closed her eyes to try and forget about her unreciprocated feelings. But sleeping next to the one that she dreamed of was not helpful. She could hear the gentle breaths that he was taking. She could hear his fidgeting toes. She could hear everything that made her aware of his presence.

Carefully, as not to wake him, Clara slid out of the bed, and treaded delicately across the floor. Once outside of his room, Clara walked briskly to her own bedroom, where she gathered her pillows, duvet, phone and headphones. She carried the bundle to the control room where the TARDIS greeted her with a quiet murmur. Clara hushed the machine and walked over to the steps which led down beneath. On the lower level, Clara lay down the items and began to arrange them into a sort of bed. She realised she needed something for her to actually lie on, so looked in the storage compartments next to her and found a yoga mat.

"Why does he need a yoga mat?" she whispered to herself. She decided the yoga mat would do as a temporary mattress. She laid down the yoga mat and placed her pillows down one end. She then grabbed her duvet, lay down on the yoga mat and pulled the warmth over her. Clara reached for her phone and headphones, plugged them forcefully into her ears and pressed play.


End file.
